"Devil in Human Skin": Man Murders Ex-Wife, Stuffs Body in Suitcase After 20-Hour Crime Show Binge

[Voice of the eldest son of the late victim, Ms. Oh: He is not a human being. He is a devil. A devil in human skin. He killed the spouse he lived with for nearly 30 years, and when I think of the person called my father, I think he is a psychopath.]

On March 30, a man in his 60s, surnamed Lee, was arrested in Eumseong, North Chungcheong Province, while attempting to dispose of a suitcase containing the body of a woman in her 50s whom he had murdered in Seocho-gu, Seoul.

The woman Lee murdered was his ex-wife, Ms. Oh, whom he had divorced three months prior to the incident.

The couple had been married for 28 years before divorcing by mutual agreement in January. Lee claims that he killed her impulsively during an argument after Ms. Oh filed a lawsuit for property division.

[Voice of the suspect, Lee: The victim shouted, "Are you crazy, are you planning to kill someone?" and I could not control my anger, so I dragged the victim into the main bedroom... I lost my mind, and although I am not certain, I pressed my hands against the victim's neck for about five minutes. Once the sound stopped, I released my hands...]

The body was discovered with a plastic bag over the head and a necktie tied around the neck.

[Interview: Professor Lee Ho, Department of Forensic Medicine, Jeonbuk National University: The fact that there were marks from the necktie tied over a scarf indicates it was tied very tightly. To claim there was no intent to kill after assaulting, strangling, and then covering the head with a plastic bag and tying it with a necktie? That is difficult to accept.]

Lee was known to those around him as a "volunteer king" who took the lead in community service. He was also a multi-millionaire with assets worth over 10 billion won, owning six officetels in prime Gangnam locations and two apartments jointly owned by the couple.

However, the testimonies of his two sons painted a different picture.

[Voice of the eldest son of the late victim, Ms. Oh: Thinking of the person called my father, there was always a lot of anxiety. He would always watch TV, drink at night, watch TV, and drink at night. He would scream, glare, and throw things as if he were really going to kill someone.]

Suspicious circumstances were also discovered in Lee's OTT streaming history.

While he usually enjoyed action or adult content, the proportion of crime-related content he watched increased around the time of the crime.

Notably, he spent 20 hours watching crime shows the day before the incident, which drew attention as the content included scenes of a perpetrator murdering a victim and disposing of the body in a suitcase.

During the trial, Lee showed an obsession with money rather than remorse. He urged his sons, who were preparing for the property division lawsuit, to stop, calling their actions meaningless, and even instructed them to hire the best criminal defense lawyers for him.

[Voice of the suspect, Lee: Do you think things happen in this world without a reason? Hello? Do you think I wanted to end up in here on purpose? The prosecutor even wrote a complete work of fiction in the indictment!]

Lee has hired four lawyers and is contesting the charges.

Reported by Lee Seyoung | Video by Seo Byeong-uk | Source: Unanswered Questions Episode 1493 | Produced by SBS Digital News
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.